I'm not a person for regrets, but I do harbour some big ones – and resentment - about missing out on the squad for the Champions' League final in 2007.

It's the greatest club competition in the world, and to be part of it is the ultimate as a player. I was in the travelling squad that went to Athens with Liverpool, so I know how amazing it can be...even if I did shed a little tear when I wasn't named in the final 18.

That was heartbreaking, believe me. It was even worse to sit and watch as we lost to AC Milan, even though we were the better team. Worse, because I was so desperate to see Liverpool win.

Of course, as one of those players who had that total belief in themselves, I was also sitting there thinking, I'd have scored the chances we created that night.

All those memories came pouring back for me on Wednesday night, when Liverpool repeated the feat of our team 11 years ago and got to the final. I was so overjoyed for them, absolutely air-punchingly ecstatic.

Conte has previously suggested that Liverpool were lucky getting to the final (Image: Action Images via Reuters)

Liverpool have made it to the Champions League final (Image: AFP/Getty)

I was delighted for them too, because all that rubbish from Antonio Conte about lucky teams winning being able to win the Champions League, well, he's better than that. He really is.

You can't fluke your way into the final of the world's toughest competition. Liverpool had to beat City, they had to beat a Roma side who were far, far better than people give them credit for, a Roma side who destroyed Barcelona.

I'm not a great believer in stats, because I think you can always make them bend to whatever you want them to prove, but Liverpool's in Europe don't lie. They show just how brilliant Jurgen Klopp's men have been, and how much they deserve to be in the final.

Klopp celebrates Liverpool reaching the Champions League final (Image: PA)

Klopp will believe that Conte disrespected his team (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Klopp will be telling them that on Sunday when they face Chelsea, and he'll also be telling his team how Conte has disrespected them, how he's taunting them and making a mockery of their talent. Managers know how to wind up their players.

He will be telling his side to go out and prove they are a better team than Chelsea, which if we are being honest, they are, because the table doesn't lie either.

Liverpool have been a FAR better team than Chelsea this season, the operative word being team, because they are all together, where Conte's side have been a bit of a rag tag bunch of talented individuals for much of the campaign.

So I actually hope – and believe it or not, this nothing to do with my obvious Liverpool bias – Klopp can get his men up one more time to go out and prove why they are ahead of Chelsea in the table, and why they deserve to keep their opponents out of the top four.

Salah has been streaks ahead of Hazard this season (Image: REUTERS)

Liverpool have reached the Champions League final in emphatic fashion (Image: PA Wire)

I also hope they go on and win the final in Kiev. Really? I hear you ask. Ok. But for more reasons than because I support them.

Because they have been the most exciting team in the competition, have the best forward line of all the teams in it this year, and because I like to see sides with the courage to attack their opponents get reward for that.

They can do it too. We all know they will have to play much better than they did in Rome, but we all know they have the talent available to do that.

There will also be the factor of the fans. I know Liverpool's support will only get 16,000 tickets, but you have to trust me – there will be more like 50,000 of them there. And that support can lift them to beat even Real Madrid.